Joy Corrigan on Removing Her Breast Implants, Body Image and Finally Feeling Like Herself

What happens when the thing you thought gave you confidence becomes the thing you realize you never needed?

In this episode of Heal Squad, Maria sits down with model and actress Joy Corrigan for a candid conversation about breast implants, modeling, body image, aging and the years she spent believing that changing her body was part of the price of success.

After 12 years with implants, Joy decided to have them removed. But the story is about much more than surgery.

It’s about learning the difference between looking confident and actually being confident.

She Changed Her Body to Chase Her Dream

Joy wanted to model from the time she was young.

She dropped out of college, moved to Miami and started knocking on agency doors. Rejection came quickly.

Too short.

Too blonde.

Not the right measurements.

Photographers and people in the industry began suggesting things she could change. Maybe darker hair. Maybe breast implants. Maybe then she’d book more work.

At 23, Joy got implants.

She wasn’t thinking about what they might mean 10 or 20 years later. She was thinking about her career.

And for a long time, she believed they worked.

She built a successful modeling career, lived and worked around the world and booked major jobs. But looking back, Joy sees it differently.

She doesn’t believe her implants made her successful.

Her work ethic did. Her face did. Her personality did. Being someone people enjoyed having on set did.

The implants gave her confidence—but, as she puts it, “that was not real confidence.”

When Your Body Becomes Your Job

There’s another side to modeling that Joy doesn’t sugarcoat.

Her agents regularly measured her to make sure she still matched the dimensions on her comp card. She dieted intensely and exercised to maintain those measurements.

And the rejection wasn’t simply, You weren’t right for this role.

It could feel much more personal:

You’re not skinny enough.

You’re not tall enough.

Your face isn’t right.

Your body isn’t right.

At just 24, Joy says agents were already telling her to lie about her age at castings.

That’s what happens when your appearance isn’t simply part of your identity—it becomes part of your livelihood.

Over time, Joy says it took a toll on the way she saw herself.

What Happens When the Work Stops?

COVID became an unexpected turning point.

Modeling work stopped, and suddenly Joy had to confront a question she’d spent years avoiding:

Who am I if I’m not working?

She says she became depressed and realized how much of her identity had become wrapped up in her career and appearance.

So she started doing the internal work.

Therapy. Journaling. Meditation. Focusing on her physical and mental well-being. Exploring interests and parts of herself that had nothing to do with how she looked.

Most importantly, she began learning to listen to her own voice instead of allowing everyone else’s to be louder.

That eventually brought her back to something she’d been questioning about her body.

Her implants.

“Why Am I Compromising How I Feel for How I Look?”

Joy had been dealing with health issues including migraines, fatigue, inflammation and thyroid hormone problems. She says that despite focusing heavily on sleep, nutrition, exercise and her health, she wasn’t feeling better.

She began wondering whether her implants could be contributing.

She also started noticing physical discomfort she’d normalized for years—discomfort lying on her side, pressure against her breasts and limitations she’d simply accepted as part of having implants.

Eventually she asked herself a deceptively simple question:

Why am I compromising feeling good for how I look?

She decided she wanted the implants out.

The Scariest Part Wasn’t Just Surgery

Joy was afraid.

Would removing them hurt her career?

Would people judge her for admitting she’d had implants?

Would she still like her body?

Would other people?

And then there was the surgery itself.

She went back and forth right up until the procedure.

But this decision felt different from so many decisions she’d made earlier in her career.

No agent was telling her to do it.

No photographer was suggesting it.

No one was promising she’d get more work.

She was making the decision for herself.

When she woke up after the procedure, she describes feeling an enormous sense of relief.

She’d done something that terrified her—and discovered she could handle it.

Borrow Courage From Your Own Past

One of the best takeaways from the conversation has nothing specifically to do with breast implants.

When Joy became frightened before surgery, she looked backward.

She remembered dropping out of college and moving to Miami.

She remembered moving to Los Angeles.

She remembered leaving a toxic relationship.

There were already moments in her life when she’d been terrified, trusted herself and gotten through it.

So why not use those moments as evidence?

Maria connects it to her experience on Dancing with the Stars. When she needs confidence now, she can return mentally to the moment during the competition when something clicked and she thought:

I’ve got this.

That’s a useful exercise for any frightening moment.

Instead of asking yourself whether you’re brave enough for what’s ahead, ask:

When have I already been brave?

Breast Implants and Health: What We Know

Joy shares her personal belief that her implants contributed to several of her health problems and says she was beginning to feel better four weeks after their removal. She also discusses scar tissue around her implants and what her surgeon told her about other patients’ experiences.

It’s important to separate Joy’s personal experience from what can be concluded medically.

Breast implants do have recognized risks and complications, including capsular contracture, rupture or deflation, changes in sensation, pain and the potential need for additional surgeries. Certain breast implants have also been associated with rare cancers involving the tissue or capsule around an implant.

At the same time, symptoms sometimes grouped under the term “breast implant illness”—including fatigue, headaches and cognitive or systemic symptoms—are still being studied, and individual symptoms cannot automatically be attributed to implants.

Anyone experiencing symptoms or considering implant removal should discuss their individual situation with a qualified healthcare professional.

Joy’s experience is her experience—and that’s powerful without needing to make it universal.

Sometimes the Thing You Hate Becomes Your Strength

The implants weren’t the only thing Joy was encouraged to change.

Early in her career, an agent told her that her chin and jaw were flaws.

Hide them.

Contour them.

Don’t photograph her face from certain angles.

Joy internalized it.

She’d tell makeup artists to minimize her jaw because she’d been taught that something about her natural face was wrong.

Then something interesting started happening.

People would look at her and essentially ask:

What are you talking about?

Eventually, she realized the feature she’d been taught to hide was part of what made her distinctive.

Her “flaw” was part of her look.

That’s a theme that runs throughout the conversation: the things that make you different may be exactly the things that make you memorable.

Stop Looking at the Filtered Version of Yourself

Joy also stopped using beauty filters.

The reason was surprisingly simple.

She would look at herself with a filter and think she looked great. Then she’d turn it off and suddenly judge the real face staring back at her.

The comparison itself was creating insecurity.

So she removed the comparison.

She has taken a similar approach to her weight. After years in an industry obsessed with measurements, she says she stopped weighing herself.

Instead, she focuses on eating well, exercising and how she feels.

It’s part of a larger shift from asking:

How do I look?

to:

How do I feel?

Don’t Wait Until You’re Older to Appreciate How You Look Today

The conversation eventually turns to aging.

Joy spent years being told youth was part of her value. Now, at 35, she says she’s happier than she’s ever been—and excited about getting older.

Maria points out something many people discover too late.

We can spend years criticizing our bodies only to look at old photographs a decade later and think:

What was I worried about? I looked amazing.

Then we do the exact same thing to ourselves at our current age.

Joy offers a better perspective:

We’re the youngest we’ll ever be right now.

So perhaps the goal isn’t to win the battle against aging.

Maybe it’s to stop fighting long enough to enjoy where you are.

Find Something to Love About Yourself That Has Nothing to Do With the Mirror

For Joy, learning to love herself has also meant deliberately investing in things that have nothing to do with her appearance.

She paints.

She cooks.

She creates.

She explores interests that remind her she has something to offer the world beyond a photograph.

That’s especially meaningful coming from someone whose career was built around being looked at.

When you spend all your energy trying to perfect what people see, it’s easy to forget everything about you they can’t see.

Your creativity.

Your kindness.

Your determination.

Your humor.

Your courage.

Your ability to make something, solve something, help someone or love someone.

Those things age differently.

Confidence You Don’t Have to Buy

Joy doesn’t condemn cosmetic procedures, and neither does the conversation.

The bigger question is why you’re doing something.

Are you making a change because you’ve thoughtfully decided it’s right for you?

Or because someone convinced you there’s something wrong with you?

Joy thought implants would make her more marketable.

She thought they made her more confident.

Twelve years later, removing them became an entirely different kind of confidence.

Not confidence created by changing her body.

Confidence created by trusting herself.

And perhaps that’s the most important distinction in her story:

Real confidence isn’t finally becoming acceptable to everyone else. It’s realizing you don’t need everyone else’s permission to be comfortable in your own skin.